Former Carmi native releases Christmas CD

Talent is all around White County and it comes in many forms. One of those forms is the musical skill of Donna Howell, who has just released her first Christmas CD and the CD is now available at Little Giant.

Talent is all around White County and it comes in many forms. One of those forms is the musical skill of Donna Howell, who has just released her first Christmas CD and the CD is now available at Little Giant.

Howell, the former Donna Templeton of Carmi, offers 10 Christmas favorites on her CD, "A Christmas L.I.F.T.," with 100% of the proceeds going to Mission Guatemala.

Templeton has been singing for more than four decades. She is a former winner of the WRUL Country Showdown and has been active in gospel singing at her church. Her husband, Rev. Glenn B. Howell, is the senior pastor at Zionsville United Methodist Church northwest of Indianapolis, Ind. Rev. Howell was the pastor at Turning Pointe UMC on the west side of Evansville, Ind. prior to his appointment in Zionsville.

Howell has been a longtime member of the banking industry in Evansville. She is now the Senior Vice President for Client Satisfaction and CRM Administration for German American Bank and transferred to the Zionsville area upon the appointment of her husband to the Zionsville United Methodist Church.

Always active in the church with her husband, Howell wanted to find a way to give back. Through a friendship with Tom Heaton, founder and director of Mission Guatemala, Howell decided to cut the CD and donate proceeds to the efforts of the organization.

"Our plans were to give 50% of the sales to Mission Guatemala with a goal of $15,000, which is 3,000 CDs sold," said Howell on her Website. "In the Mission Guatemala clinic, this will support a dentist for one year. I believe that God didn't think we were dreaming big enough because after we introduced the CD in our church, a generous individual came forward and offered to pay for the production costs of the CD. Because of this one person's generosity, we are now able to give 100% of the sales to Mission Guatemala with a goal of $30,000."

Coming up with a title for the CD was one of the more difficult things of the process. Howell couldn't think of a name until she saw her husband's license plates, which have the letters LIFT 1 on them. A light bulb went off and Howell named the CD, "A Christmas L.I.F.T." The letters L.I.F.T. stand for Love, Inspiration, Faith and Transformation.

Howell recruited the services of several top musicians for the CD. The drummer, Dane Clark, is most noted as the drummer for John Mellencamp, a position he still holds today. Other musicians include Frank Bradford, Troye Kinnett, all well known names in the music industry. Howell even credits her husband, Glenn, on the CD for his work on "air guitars." Andy Symons served as the producer for the CD and joins Howell in creating "Team Cinnamon Productions," which is in recognition of Symons and Howell's red hair. The CD was recorded at The Sound Machine in Carmel, Ind.

Page 2 of 2 - In addition to purchasing a CD at Little Giant, the CDs are available online at liftlives.com or may be downloaded in MP3 version.